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Plastic Straw Ban

Many cities and towns across the United States have or are considering banning plastic straws. Restaurants, fast food outlets, and coffee shops and employees could be fined and/or jailed for providing plastic straws with beverages. In the city of Santa Barbara in California, a restaurant employee or owner could be fined $1000 after an initial warning to stop providing plastic straws and serve a 6 month jail term for multiple infractions of the plastic straw ban ordinance. Supposedly these ordinances have provisions that would exempt providing plastic straws to people with disabilities.

San Francisco has decided to ban them in restaurants, cafes and other businesses.

The Disney Company will do so in the happiest places on Earth.

The global campaign to do away with plastic drinking straws is gaining momentum as environmentalistscontinue to try to reduce plastic waste polluting beaches, parks and oceans and filling landfills. Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda are among the growing list of cities that restrict or ban them in many businesses.

But there are also unintended victims of the campaign. People such as 44-year-old San Francisco resident Alice Wong, who has a progressive neuromuscular disability that affects her ability to lift and hold things, tilt her head, swallow and breathe. For Wong, plastic straws aren?t a convenience, they are a necessity of life, and she says the ban feels like a personal attack on her. Straws allow her to drink hot liquids and bend forward to sip a drink, and the alternatives to them often fall apart too easily, fail to bend, or pose injury risks.

Given the wide range of disabilities and needs, activists say campaigns painting straws as nonessential ignore those who depend on them. It is, they say, an issue of equality.

Many cities and towns across the United States have or are considering banning plastic straws. Restaurants, fast food outlets, and coffee shops and employees could be fined and/or jailed for providing plastic straws with beverages. In the city of Santa Barbara in California, a restaurant employee or owner could be fined $1000 after an initial warning to stop providing plastic straws and serve a 6 month jail term for multiple infractions of the plastic straw ban ordinance. Supposedly these ordinances have provisions that would exempt providing plastic straws to people with disabilities.

San Francisco has decided to ban them in restaurants, cafes and other businesses.

The Disney Company will do so in the happiest places on Earth.

The global campaign to do away with plastic drinking straws is gaining momentum as environmentalistscontinue to try to reduce plastic waste polluting beaches, parks and oceans and filling landfills. Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda are among the growing list of cities that restrict or ban them in many businesses.

But there are also unintended victims of the campaign. People such as 44-year-old San Francisco resident Alice Wong, who has a progressive neuromuscular disability that affects her ability to lift and hold things, tilt her head, swallow and breathe. For Wong, plastic straws aren?t a convenience, they are a necessity of life, and she says the ban feels like a personal attack on her. Straws allow her to drink hot liquids and bend forward to sip a drink, and the alternatives to them often fall apart too easily, fail to bend, or pose injury risks.

Given the wide range of disabilities and needs, activists say campaigns painting straws as nonessential ignore those who depend on them. It is, they say, an issue of equality.

I seem to remember paper straws from my youth-long before plastic took over, there were perfectly useful paper straws although perhaps not with the corrugated bend thing.
How did we EVER MANAGE without plastic!

San Francisco has decided to ban them in restaurants, cafes and other businesses.

The Disney Company will do so in the happiest places on Earth.

The global campaign to do away with plastic drinking straws is gaining momentum as environmentalistscontinue to try to reduce plastic waste polluting beaches, parks and oceans and filling landfills. Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda are among the growing list of cities that restrict or ban them in many businesses.

"But there are also unintended victims of the campaign. People such as 44-year-old San Francisco resident Alice Wong, who has a progressive neuromuscular disability that affects her ability to lift and hold things, tilt her head, swallow and breathe. For Wong, plastic straws aren?t a convenience, they are a necessity of life, and she says the ban feels like a personal attack on her. Straws allow her to drink hot liquids and bend forward to sip a drink, and the alternatives to them often fall apart too easily, fail to bend, or pose injury risks.

Given the wide range of disabilities and needs, activists say campaigns painting straws as nonessential ignore those who depend on them. It is, they say, an issue of equality."

Fairly easy to solve. Bring your own plastic straw with you; wash and reuse as necessary.

San Francisco has decided to ban them in restaurants, cafes and other businesses.

The Disney Company will do so in the happiest places on Earth.

The global campaign to do away with plastic drinking straws is gaining momentum as environmentalistscontinue to try to reduce plastic waste polluting beaches, parks and oceans and filling landfills. Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda are among the growing list of cities that restrict or ban them in many businesses.

"But there are also unintended victims of the campaign. People such as 44-year-old San Francisco resident Alice Wong, who has a progressive neuromuscular disability that affects her ability to lift and hold things, tilt her head, swallow and breathe. For Wong, plastic straws aren?t a convenience, they are a necessity of life, and she says the ban feels like a personal attack on her. Straws allow her to drink hot liquids and bend forward to sip a drink, and the alternatives to them often fall apart too easily, fail to bend, or pose injury risks.

Given the wide range of disabilities and needs, activists say campaigns painting straws as nonessential ignore those who depend on them. It is, they say, an issue of equality."

Fairly easy to solve. Bring your own plastic straw with you; wash and reuse as necessary.

Right now that is the right option, but I'm wondering if this may go further and the retail sales of plastic straws will be banned as time goes by.

Maybe metal straws should become part of the flatware setting or at least available upon request. Metal straws come straight or have a slight angle bend in them, they can be washed in dishwashers, just like spoons and forks and reused. Obviously not a good option for take away restaurants.

I've been ordering paper straws on Amazon for a year-since this info came out last year. I don't need one but I love drinking out of one and these do great. I sip on water all day long and they have never fallen apart. I don't know how they would handle hot drinks though.

I also recommend that those who need them stock up on plastic bendy straws now if you need one. While I doubt that manufacture will be banned, if restaurants that have ordered them in large amounts in the past stop, they will cease to be a profitable product for manufacturers, and they may stop making them.

(KLD)

The SCI-Nurses are advanced practice nurses specializing in SCI/D care. They are available to answer questions, provide education, and make suggestions which you should always discuss with your physician/primary health care provider before implementing. Medical diagnosis is not provided, nor do the SCI-Nurses provide nursing or medical care through their responses on the CareCure forums.

I also recommend that those who need them stock up on plastic bendy straws now if you need one. While I doubt that manufacture will be banned, if restaurants that have ordered them in large amounts in the past stop, they will cease to be a profitable product for manufacturers, and they may stop making them.

(KLD)

Stocking up on plastic "bendy" straws is a short term fix, kind of like stocking up on incandescent light bulbs. At some point in time you are going to have to make the adjustment to some other device.